Roads
by Abby1
Summary: Ryan has a choice to make.


Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
  
AN: This is my first O.C fix, I live in Oz and have only seen two  
  
episodes but fell in love. Tell me if this is crap and I'll re-work  
  
it.  
  
Rating:G  
  
Spoilers: None, I'm working off my own twisted imagination.  
  
Hope you enjoy, R&R!  
  
Roads  
  
Ryan sat completely still staring at the backpack stuffed with all  
  
his worldly belongings and let his head fall into his hands. At  
  
sixteen he had a decision to make and it would impact on most  
  
probably the rest of his life so he had to be certain that it was the  
  
right choice.  
  
The choices were many, though they focused around two events, staying  
  
where he was or leaving. To stay would be so easy, to leave would be  
  
far more difficult. Ryan remembered the words of Robert Frost and  
  
pondered the meaning of his famous poem for a moment, Two roads  
  
diverged in a wood, an I - I took the one less traveled by, On the  
  
one hand Ryan had a fairly clear idea of what would happen or might  
  
happen in his life if he was to stay. Oh but if he could gather the  
  
courage to leave, if he could only garner the strength to step out of  
  
the world he had placed in and to find another.  
  
The choice weighed on the boy, who was not only physically drained  
  
from the past week's events but from the enormous stresses he had  
  
placed on himself regarding both the past and the future. Massaging  
  
his temples gingerly Ryan forced himself to concentrate even though  
  
the late hour made demands on his body for sleep. But the decision  
  
must be made now! Who knew what trappings tomorrow would bring, what  
  
new hurdles would bar possible escape?  
  
Pulling himself up into an exhausted standing position Ryan began a  
  
gentle pace of the room he stayed in, stretching his sore and tired  
  
muscles from corner to corner and in a lap around the furniture. As  
  
he walked he muttered softly to himself, to help keep track of his  
  
jumbled reasoning. Thoughts such as friends, family, school and even  
  
work fluttered through his mind and all leading to one impossible  
  
situation, a dead lock. There seemed to be in the mind of the  
  
troubled boy just as much reason for going as there were for  
  
staying.  
  
His decision must be steadfast, if he were to leave he would never be  
  
able to return. This he were certain of, this he was sure. They would  
  
not have him back again and the thought saddened him. That if he were  
  
to leave he would lose everything he was walking away from forever.  
  
Was he willing to give them up forever? Or would it make no  
  
difference? Would he lose them anyway even if he were to stay?  
  
The people around now didn't even know who he was, they just came up  
  
with an idea in there minds about him. An idea formed from where Ryan  
  
was, where he lived, what he had been through. No doubt also who he  
  
lived with.  
  
" Dammit!" Ryan muttered angrily and leant heavily against the  
  
closest wall allowing his head to knock against the plaster,  
  
momentarily forgetting the latest gash on his forehead from fighting.  
  
Wincing as the raw edges of the cut banged against the smooth  
  
surface, Ryan pulled back and looked across the room to his  
  
reflection in a mirror. The cut stood out angrily against the rainbow  
  
of bruises that marred his face, purple around his eye and cheek, an  
  
older bruise yellowing against his jaw line, a now scabby slash  
  
through his eyebrow. Ryan wished he could use the violence as the  
  
reason behind his decision but disgustingly he knew he couldn't count  
  
on the violence to stop wherever he went. If it weren't through his  
  
hot head and his fists in street fights and brushes at school, he  
  
might almost be assured of not having to wake up and look at old  
  
bruises in the mirror.  
  
Ryan rubbed the old bruise along his jaw staring at his own eyes,  
  
searching for the decision in his head. Breaking the contact with the  
  
mirror Ryan took a deep breath and bluffing himself into thinking the  
  
decision he had just made was the right one, he snagged the backpack  
  
and practically ran through the door.  
  
Ryan made it as far as the long drive before he slumped onto the curb  
  
and dragged a cigarette from his pocket and after lighting it took in  
  
a long drag. Ryan looked up at the house at the end of the drive and  
  
pulled his backpack further onto his shoulder. Lighting the second  
  
cigarette with the first he tried to work up the courage to move  
  
further but by the end of the fifth cigarette he was still at the end  
  
of the drive way.  
  
" Ryan?" A voice suddenly called out in the darkness and Ryan jumped  
  
and turned to see the moonlit form of Sandy Cohen standing several  
  
feet away,  
  
" Mr. Cohen," Ryan replied desperately sucking in smoke from his  
  
cigarette one last time before he crushed the remains beneath his  
  
boot and flicked the rubbish into the gutter.  
  
" Sandy, for gods sake call me Sandy," Sandy replied as he moved  
  
closer to the teen and slumped down onto the gutter a few feet away.  
  
From his position in the street Sandy let his eyes examine the boy in-  
  
front of him.  
  
"You're out late?" Sandy asked and Ryan nodded staring down the  
  
street for a moment before turning to look at the emotive face of  
  
Sandy.  
  
" You can come back Ryan, we'd like you to come back."  
  
" I'd like to come back too," Ryan answered in a small voice and  
  
Sandy looked at him, smiled and nodded.  
  
" Welcome home."  
  
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled  
  
by, and that has made all the difference. Ryan hoped Frost was right.  
  
Please Review. 


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